"Fubao hasn't been feeling well lately and has no appetite. What's the big deal if she takes a little something of yours? As her brother's wife, how can you be so stingy?" Hearing Chun Mian's sudden defiance, Old Mrs. Gao flew into a towering rage, bolstering her audacity. If she hadn't been holding Gao Anna in her arms, she probably would have jumped straight up.
Her voice was pitched incredibly high, as if she believed that whoever yelled the loudest was automatically in the right.
"If your daughter is unwell, figure out a way to buy her medicine and get her some candy yourself. What gives you the right to covet the things my mother brought for me?" Chun Mian refused to indulge the older woman's sense of entitlement. Leaning against the door behind her, she shot the question right back.
"This is an outrage! An absolute outrage! Anna is so young, and she grew up without a father. What's wrong with her eating a little of your food? Is this how a daughter-in-law behaves? Oh, my dear departed husband, you left so early and abandoned me with these ungrateful wretches! How am I supposed to live?" Seeing that Chun Mian's imposing aura was about to suppress her own, Old Mrs. Gao set Gao Anna down on a nearby stool, threw herself onto the ground, and began to wail.
Seeing his mother crying her heart out, Gao Jianmin jumped in shock. Hearing her words made his heart ache even more. He ignored the excruciating, bone-breaking pain in his arm and stepped forward, crouching down to comfort her. "Mom, don't cry, don't cry. You still have me."
"Get away from me! You married a wife just to spite me!" Old Mrs. Gao was fully intending to use Gao Jianmin as a weapon to charge the front lines. Naturally, she wouldn't give him a pleasant expression at this moment.
No one knew better than Old Mrs. Gao what kind of son she had raised. She knew exactly how to manipulate these sons of hers to secure benefits for herself and her daughter.
Realizing he had been rejected by his own mother, Gao Jianmin turned his head, his face pulling into a fierce scowl as he roared at Chun Mian. "What on earth are you saying to Mom? Anna is so young. What's the big deal if she eats a little food? Hurry up and apologize to Mom!"
His righteous, fearless tone had clearly been cultivated by Wei Shumei's past indulgence!
"Am I not telling the truth? Have I ever taken a single bite of the things my mother brought in the past? Weren't they all taken by your mother to feed your sister? I didn't care about what happened before, but this time, I just lost a child! I'm the one who needs nourishment, and you still have the sheer audacity to take it? Your sister is young, so what if she eats a little something? If you're willing to carve off your own flesh and bleed yourself dry to feed your sister, go right ahead, but don't drag me down with you! My mother saved these things for me, entirely unwilling to eat them herself. Just how thick is your skin to say you want to give these things to your sister?" Chun Mian wasn't about to humor Gao Jianmin's cowardly behavior. She grabbed a stool from the side, fully prepared to smash it over his head at any moment.
They ate her food, stole her things, and had the sheer audacity to act justified while trying to beat her over it. It seemed these people desperately needed a harsh reality check from the real world!
"You are my wife, and she is your sister. How can you be so cold-blooded?" Gao Jianmin snapped, infuriated by her words.
Glancing to the side, he saw Gao Anna crying in fright. Gao Jianmin's heart broke, and all reason left his mind. With an even uglier expression, he stood up and bellowed at Chun Mian, "Keep your voice down! Anna is young and can't handle being frightened. She has to go to school in the future! What if you scare her so much she damages her brain?"
"Right, an eight-year-old who still needs her mother and brother to carry her when she goes out. She certainly is young." Chun Mian glanced at Gao Anna, who was wiping away tears while secretly peeking at them. She made no attempt to hide her thick sarcasm.
"What kind of nonsense are you spouting?" Gao Jianmin was even more enraged. Perhaps because Wei Shumei had been too submissive in the past, he had never been talked back to like this. The moment Chun Mian's attitude turned cold, Gao Jianmin felt his dignity as a man was being provoked.
After a furious roar, he looked around, seemingly searching for a handy weapon. He had completely forgotten the severe blow Chun Mian had dealt him right after he had fallen to the ground earlier.
There were only a few stools in the house. Chun Mian had already destroyed one when she first landed in this body. Now, Gao Anna was sitting on one, Chun Mian was holding another, and there were two left on the ground. Gao Jianmin grabbed the nearest one and, without any hesitation, swung it directly at Chun Mian.
SWOOSH!
As the sound of the wind approached, Chun Mian curled her lips into a cold sneer. She had a notoriously fiery temper, and she was done holding back!
Before Gao Jianmin could even react, Chun Mian had pinned him to the ground, subjecting him to a brutal beating. Of course, hitting someone on the head could cause serious injury, so Chun Mian specifically aimed for places that hurt the most but wouldn't cause permanent damage—like his back and his rear end.
Did Gao Jianmin have any dignity left while being pummeled and ground into the floor like this? That was none of her business. If he dared to commit domestic violence, he should be prepared to suffer the brutal counter-violence of self-defense at any time!
Old Mrs. Gao was stunned in absolute terror. After a long moment, she finally snapped back to reality and let out a long, piercing scream.
It was July, right around noon. Because the weather was too hot, the villagers rarely went to work in the fields at this time, afraid of getting heatstroke. The crops wouldn't die if they were left unattended for a short while, but human beings couldn't withstand the scorching sun. If someone actually suffered a heatstroke, they would have to see a doctor, get an IV drip, and spend precious money.
Since the villagers were all resting at home, the loud commotion from the Gao family quickly drew the attention of their neighbors. The neighboring women, both young and old, hurried over to see what was happening. As soon as they arrived, they were greeted by the sight of Chun Mian pinning Gao Jianmin to the ground and beating him.
"Oh my, Shumei, you can't do this!"
"Exactly! Shumei, let's talk this out. Don't resort to violence."
The women stepped forward to pull her away. Only then did Chun Mian slowly stop her assault. She straightened her clothes and stood up.
"This daughter-in-law is entirely useless! The accursed woman is actually beating her own husband! We can't live like this anymore! She scolds her mother-in-law and beats her man! I simply can't go on living!" Seeing the crowd gather, Old Mrs. Gao wiped her tears and resumed her dramatic hysterics.
"Shumei, it's not right to hit your husband. Hurry up and apologize to his mother. Stop making a scene. You were living perfectly well, there's no need to cause such a ruckus."
"If the two of you are having marital problems, you should talk it out. Where in the world does a wife beat her husband?"
The neighboring women began another round of persuasion.
Chun Mian let them finish before smiling slightly. "I know you ladies mean well, and I thank you for your concern. But since you're all here, I happen to have a matter I'd like everyone to judge fairly."
At this point, Chun Mian cleared her throat, speaking up before Old Mrs. Gao could interject. "As you all know, I took a fall in the backyard a few days ago and lost my child. It was a scorching hot day, and we'll leave aside the question of why there was water on the stones in the backyard for now. But speaking strictly of the miscarriage—after I lost the baby, my mother was heartbroken. She specially brought over eggs, brown sugar, and walnut cookies so I could nourish my body. My mother just visited yesterday. I believe you all saw her. And yet, what was the result?"
Chun Mian let out a cold laugh. She glanced at the egg basket sitting on the stove and continued, "This afternoon, while I was resting, my mother-in-law sneaked into my room and took all the food. She claimed that her daughter's body was weak, that she needed nourishment, that she had a bland taste in her mouth and wanted something sweet."
Pausing halfway, Chun Mian wiped away a few crocodile tears. With a choked voice, she sobbed, "Ladies, in the past, whenever my mother brought things over, my mother-in-law would just take them. She kept saying that Anna was young, that her body was weak, that even at eight years old, her leg bones were still soft and she needed to be carried everywhere. I always figured that since we are a family, I shouldn't be so calculating. But this time is different. I just lost my child. My body is incredibly weak right now. If I don't nourish myself properly, who knows if I'll ever be able to conceive again..."
By the end, Chun Mian was covering her face with her hands. She didn't need to finish her sentence; the neighboring women could already fill in the blanks themselves.